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Catfish Hunt Pigeons In France [Video]

Yes, you read that title correctly. A group of catfish in southwest France have learned how to hunt pigeons.

According to the Discover Magazine blog, Not Rocket Science, a group of European catfish in the River Tarn have been jumping out of the water to grab pigeons sitting on the bank.

The European catfish is the largest freshwater fish in Europe, growing up to 1.5 meters long, and has no problem taking on a little pigeon. Of course, there is that little problem about not being able to breathe on land. Discover Magazine notes that the fish temporarily stand themselves when they hunt pigeons but they are able to wiggle themselves back into the water with their prey.

The catfish isn’t the only marine animal to hunt animals on land. Julien Cucherousset from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse noted that the European catfish is acting in a very similar way to the killer whale.

The killer whale will ride the surf up onto the beach in order to catch sea lions. The catfish is using the same technique but on a much smaller scale. Cucherousset even dubbed the European catfish the “freshwater killer whale.”

Here’s a video of the catfish group that learned to hunt pigeons.

Here’s a video of an Orca hunting sea lions off the coast of Argentina.

Sometimes I think you folks make this crap up. Do you have a room full of writers who sit around and do that? Can I get a job application? I can make crap up, too. For example, that pigeon crap on your shoe looks like bait.

I used to own a chimp who would tie a string to a stick and fish in the river behind our treehouse. Eventually, the chimp grew up, got wise, and went out and bought himself a fishing pole. Set me back 74$. But that wasn't the worse part. The worse part was that the chimp caught a rare case of vermiformaphobia by eating raw fish. So, whenever he had an urge to dip his pole in the river, I'm the one who had to go out back and dig up the cans of worms that Skippy, our Schipperke, had buried in the backyard. To make this long story even longer, I should add that it was a great relief to me that our peg-legged parrot, Polly, knew how to bait the hook. I've had a huge fear of hooks since my grandma told me about the gator with the clock in its belly that was stalking our family. Arrr!

Anyone who fishes for catfish knows that they can live a long time out of water. I've thrown them in the trunk, drove forty five minutes home and threw them in the pond and they swam away. Carp can also live out of water for a long time. Maybe it's just me but in the video the fish didn't actually leave the water moreover he struck at the bird but they got away. A while ago I saw a video of an octopus that crawled out of the water and walked on the beech for five minutes before returning to the water. I never knew they could do that.